Effectiveness of an Enhanced Recovery After Surgery Protocol in Patients Undergoing On-pump Cardiac Surgery

In 2019, the Enhanced Recovery After Surgery (ERAS) Society published recommendations for perioperative care in cardiac surgery. ERAS recommendations included 22 perioperative interventions that may be part of any cardiac Enhanced Recovery Program (ERP). Since that publication, additional perioperative interventions were reported and may be added to a cardiac ERP. Studies on cardiac ERPs report variable benefits on postoperative recovery including lower pain scores, lower opioid consumption and related side effects, shorter intensive care unit and hospital discharge times. At the "Centre Hospitalier de l'Université de Montréal" (CHUM), although most care takers are aware of ERAS recommendations for cardiac surgery patients, adherence to these recommendations is heterogeneous and a cardiac ERP was never implemented.